Dispute over powers between the President of the Republic and the Supreme Court Kpt 1/17
DECISION
of 2 June 2023
Ref. No. Kpt 1/17
The Constitutional Tribunal, composed of:
Julia Przyłębska – Presiding Judge
Zbigniew Jędrzejewski
Krystyna Pawłowicz
Stanisław Piotrowicz – 2nd Judge Rapporteur
Justyn Piskorski
Piotr Pszczółkowski
Bartłomiej Sochański
Bogdan Święczkowski
Michał Warciński
Rafał Wojciechowski
Jarosław Wyrembak
Recording Clerk – Michał Rylski,
having considered – at the hearing on 2 June 2023, in the presence of the applicant, the President of the Republic of Poland, the Supreme Court, and the Public Prosecutor-General – the application of 8 June 2017 lodged by the Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland for the Constitutional Tribunal to settle a dispute over powers between the President of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Supreme Court, with regard to which the applicant requested the determination:
1) as to the nature of the competence referred to in Article 139 in conjunction with Article 144(3)(18) of the Constitution, namely:
– as to whether the said competence constitutes a power which the Polish President is to exercise her/himself without any interference from other authorities;
– as to whether it constitutes a power exercised with the involvement of other authorities; and if so – as to which authorities participate in the exercise of the said competence, and whether the Supreme Court is among them;
2) as to whether the Supreme Court may arrive at a binding interpretation of the Constitution with relation to the Polish President’s exercise of the prerogative referred to in Article 139 of the Constitution and may determine if the prerogative has been effectively exercised,
decides:
to settle the dispute over powers between the President of the Republic of Poland and the Supreme Court, as follows:
1) in the light of Article 139 in conjunction with Article 144(3)(18) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the power of pardon constitutes the exclusive competence of the Polish President, is not subject to review, and creates irreversible legal effects;
2) the Supreme Court lacks review competence that would create the legal effect arising from the Polish President’s exercise of the power referred to in point 1 above.
The ruling was adopted by a majority vote.
Julia Przyłębska
Zbigniew Jędrzejewski
Krystyna Pawłowicz
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Justyn Piskorski
Piotr Pszczółkowski (dissenting opinion)
Bartłomiej Sochański
Bogdan Święczkowski
Michał Warciński (dissenting opinion)
Rafał Wojciechowski
Jarosław Wyrembak